


growing pains

by TuxedoGal



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Awkward Kageyama Tobio, Bullying, Canon Related, Fluff, Friendship, Good Senpai Iwaizumi, Good Senpai Oikawa, Hurt Kageyama Tobio, Hurt/Comfort, Junior High, M/M, Oikawa Tooru-centric, Oikawa grows as a person over the years, Protective Iwaizumi Hajime, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28278447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TuxedoGal/pseuds/TuxedoGal
Summary: Oikawa and Iwaizumi's recollection of Kageyama through the years.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime & Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime & Kageyama Tobio & Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kageyama Tobio & Oikawa Tooru
Kudos: 59





	growing pains

**Author's Note:**

> I had a little fun with this to get back into the groove of writing. I hope oikawa isn't too ooc in this

Being around Kageyama in Junior High was what Oikawa imagined having a younger brother would feel like.

A manifestation of all his wishes at five years old for his Mom to have a third child, preferably a brother, so that he had someone to play with outside. His sister was much older than him and their age gap as a result enforced some distance between them. She often felt like a tiny version of their mother, just slightly more rebellious. His sister had her fair share of teenage parties he recalled, though she rarely came back drunk. In fact, she was likely monitoring all of her friends’ drinking habits like the Mom Friend she always set out to be.

When Oikawa stands in a line of fellow third-years on his first day of practice for his last year at Kitagawa Daiichi, Kageyama Tobio’s tiny face peeks out amidst a huddle of first year students. At first, Kageyama is only a single face in a sea of others, barely noticeable to an untrained eye. But this anonymity only lasts till the blow of the Coach’s whistle for free practice, where players can work on whatever they see fit for about fifteen minutes.

The blue eyed boy waddles behind Oikawa during practice, a tiny baby bird fluffing up its wings each time he opens his mouth for a question to ask Oikawa. By the second week it becomes unbearably annoying. Oikawa thinks the boy cannot pick up on social cues which show that the people around him aren't engaged and interested in continuing the conversation. Iwaizumi encourages him by handing Kageyama towels and helping out by wiping sauce off the boy's face when they are eating lunch at their annual training camp in May. Somehow, the first few weeks of Oikawa’s third year at this school had whizzed by in the blink of an eye. He currently finds himself sitting among their fellow players and witnessing the horrendous sight of Iwaizumi wiping the karashi paste from the first year’s cheeks. 

"You’re babying him." Oikawa glares at the domestic action, somehow reminded of a time when his older sister kept wiping his face during their New Year's Eve dinner when he was ten. Even back then he had screeched at her to stop and ripped the napkin from her hands. 

Iwaizumi clicks his tongue. "Shut up Shittykawa, we're the senpai now, we gotta act like it." He folds his napkin neatly afterwards, and Kageyama is not embarrassed by the actions at all, far too busy ducking his head back into his food. Oikawa stares a little too long at the boy’s ducked head and receives a whack from Iwaizumi’s chopsticks to the back of his right palm.

“Iwa-chan!” he yelps, and covers his hand from the tiny wooden weapons Iwaizumi points accusingly underneath Oikawa’s nose.

“Eat your damn food,” Iwaizumi says.

“Yes, _mother_.”

Iwaizumi uses the offensive chopsticks to plop a giant morsel of grilled mackerel onto Oikawa’s plate, reaching across the table in front of him in the process. Kageyama, beside Iwaizumi, has his head stuck in another bowl of rice. How much can this kid even eat?

Oikawa sighs and slowly nibbles at his bland mackerel.

...

A week after their training camp, when Oikawa is just starting to recalibrate his volleyball and school life-balance, his teachers stop throwing his class ridiculously timed pop quizzes and Iwaizumi visits his classroom for lunch. This isn’t odd, because they eat lunch together every day, but usually Iwaizumi knows when to sit quietly as Oikawa finishes up homework or crams for an upcoming test at the end of the week. In the midst of scribbling the calculator’s emblazoned answer into his neatly organized notebook, Iwaizumi mutters, "I think he got his knee scratched. You know how balanced he is, he'd never just fall over during practice."

Ah, Oikawa had forgotten about this issue. 

Sensei’s recent quizzes have thrown his brain in a loop. He had completely forgotten Iwaizumi’s previous day’s conspiracy theory of Kageyama being bullied by his classmates because of a ridiculous scrape he had on his knee. Even if this were an instance of bullying, Oikawa didn’t understand how Iwaizumi could boldly be getting involved in this mess.

Looking up from his notebook he reasons calmly, "Iwa-chan, this isn't our problem, this is the school’s issue. It's his teacher's problem, not ours." He knows it’s hard for Iwaizumi to hear, but to get into another year's classroom and cause trouble doesn’t sound appropriate. He could already envision one of the first year teachers’ long winded scolding for causing a scene in the hallway.

Iwaizumi crosses his arms. "I'm serious, I don't like it." His forehead has already wrinkled down the middle and his olive green eyes bore a hole into Oikawa’s in clear expectation for Oikawa to take him seriously for once. Oikawa closes his notebook with a whip-like flick of his wrist, huffing in displeasure. He slouches back into his seat, hands already slipping into his pockets and extending his legs out so they nearly kick at Iwaizumi’s ankles.

"Kageyama-kun is in Junior High now, he's gotta figure his own way through it." This was before a proper nickname had emerged for Kageyama. Oikawa at the time had hoped the politeness would piss the boy off slightly but he only seemed to glow at the address every time. It was almost tiring having a fan on his own team. At least Kageyama also appeared to be a fan of Iwaizumi too, so the gawking was cut in half.

"You're the Captain," Iwaizumi states as he leans over Oikawa’s desk, nearly crumpling Oikawa’s notebook in the process. Oikawa’s eyebrow twitches, but he doesn’t comment, because Iwaizumi rarely cares about appearances, only outcomes and getting the standard required grades. Iwaizumi could care less if his notebook was crumpled as long as he got an above average mark that pleased his parents' expectations enough to grant him an allowance for tickets to watch the latest rendition of Godzilla at the theatre. 

Oikawa smiles in the usual placating way he does to classmates, just a slight quirk of his lips without any teeth exposed. "Not really, the coach hasn't announced it yet," he shrugs.

Iwaizumi frowns at the performative expression slapped across Oikawa’s unblemished face. "Shittykawa, I swear," Iwaizumi grumbles, but Oikawa is already humming a tune as he slips out from his chair, ready to make a quick dash to the cafeteria for some milk bread. "Bye-bye! I need my milk-bread before break's over," he waves over his shoulder, not meeting Iwaizumi's eyes.

Walking down the hallway, he distracts himself with his phone, giggling at the stray text message from his sister where she attaches a photo of Takeru’s face littered with grains of rice from dumping his entire head into the bowl. He’s already four years old, but he still gets messy when he’s impatient to eat his food. Oikawa forgets about Kageyama in favour of milk bread, replying to his sister’s text message and watching some volleyball YouTube videos he had been recommended by Iwaizumi last night on his way back to his classroom.

The day of his Japanese Literature test at the end of the school week Oikawa is appointed Captain of the team. Iwaizumi treats him to ice cream afterwards, both their eyes glimmering with hope and promise to take on Ushijima for certain this time. In his excitement of rambling about new possible strategies and plays for their team, he forgets his ice cream which has melted all over his fingers. As he swears in complaint, Iwaizumi snorts, nose wrinkling, but reassuringly grabs his sticky hand to wash it underneath the park’s water fountain. Oikawa’s pulse jumps, his neck reddening in the process. But he can only stare at their two hands held together under the running water with Oikawa still ridiculously gripping onto his dripping cone in his other still-clean hand.

“I got you,” Iwaizumi says.

And Oikawa believes him.

...

The following weeks Oikawa hyper-focuses on improving his jump serve’s control so that it could become more reliable in a match to pin-point weak areas of defence on their opponent’s court. Sweat drips off his face and he barely notices Kageyama lurking at the edge of the court, his eyes eagerly following the ball's fast course.

Iwaizumi steps in beside the boy, noticing the bruise at the bottom of Kageyama’s chin as if he had jammed it into the ground while he fell over. Before Iwaizumi could open his mouth on a question, Kageyama turns to him and gushes, “did you see how Oikawa aimed that one?! He’s getting even better at aiming up there since last week!”

Iwaizumi nods dumbly, uncertain how to approach the clearly excited kid about his concerns. He opens and closes his mouth and decides a casual approach would be best. 

“Hey, Kageyama.”

“Hm?” Kageyama mumbles with his eyes back on the court, probably sizing up every second and third year members’ serve as the others continue their drills. Kageyama is meticulous like that, even while their group is on a water break he’s still bug-eyed on the sidelines as he watches his fellow teammates practice. Iwaizumi likens him to a tiny sponge, only reaching Iwaizumi’s shoulders in height, and craning his neck to the court in some fit to receive knowledge by proximity to dangerous flying volleyballs.

“Where’d you get that?” Iwaizumi motions to Kageyama’s injured chin, already yellow at the edges and a deep purple at the center. To an unobservant person, Kageyama doesn’t miss a beat and replies, “I fell while I was diving for a ball. I hit my chin accidentally, senpai.” But Iwaizumi notices the way Kageyama turns his head in the opposite direction from the volleyball’s high arc in the air. Instead the young boy stares at Oikawa who is scowling from the serve that ended up landing out. Kageyama didn’t even check to see the ball’s landing. Very odd. He is also far tenser than before, his mouth a thin line rather than the earlier tiny quirk to his lips as he rambled about Oikawa’s jump serves.

For Iwaizumi, this is confirmation enough of his suspicions.

“Okay then.” He casually throws an arm over Kageyama’s shoulders and yells at Oikawa how terribly he’s aiming when his next serve lands out. Kageyama’s smile begins to curl back onto his lips in the corner of his eyes, and this is all he can do for now, Iwaizumi helplessly thinks.

...

Over lunch break, on a rainy June day, a fellow third-year visits his classroom and asks, "Oikawa, did you hear about Kageyama?"

Oikawa sighs and answers as he taps his led pencil over his messier-than-usual notes on volleyball strategies to utilize in the upcoming August tournament. "Do not bother me about the first years’ issues right now, I'm planning with Coach to come up with the right"–

"No, I'm talking about the bullying," the third-year corrects. He slams his hands onto the edge of the desk, half-tilting Oikawa’s rickety desk onto an uncomfortable angle and causing Oikawa to pause his habitual tapping. Kobayashi-kun was their team’s reliable libero, and despite his smaller stature he is fairly convincing when he stares directly into your eyes without blinking.

Oikawa waves him off airily, "No, no, I’m eating my milk bread and bento right now, gifted by the wonderful Satsu-chan, one of my many beautiful classmates, so please"– 

Kobayashi continues, "I'm serious Oikawa, it's gotten bad, like way too far. Haven't you noticed how tired he looks lately? Iwaizumi thinks he's not eating." 

"His parents should"– 

"Iwaizumi meant his lunches, and we don't even know Kageyama's family, maybe they don't watch him at home." 

Oikawa heaves a sigh, "Just cause I'm Captain"–

"I'm just here to _remind_ you," Kobayashi explains with a casual shrug as he nods his head to the open classroom door.

Oikawa freezes his tapping fingers and does not enjoy where his mind leads him. He hopelessly wishes he is incorrect as he asks, "What do you mean ‘remind’ me? Of what?" 

"Iwaizumi. He's going to the bullies as the Vice Captain of the team."

"Shit," Oikawa seethes, imagining Iwaizumi beating up some first year kids in the yard and him being suspended from the team. One of _his_ best spikers. Fuck, he had no choice now. He tracks down Iwaizumi on the way to the First Years’ floor and convinces him to stop the confrontation so that Oikawa can handle it diplomatically, instead of making a scene. 

Finding the perpetrator is easy and Iwaizumi tells him on the way to Kageyama’s classroom how from his prodding of Kageyama’s fellow worried classmates, there is only one bully who seems to not be getting the message that tormenting classmates isn’t a method of garnering popular friendships in Junior High. They arrive at the classroom and as Oikawa begins to retrieve the bully from his group of chattering classmates over lunch-break, Kageyama approaches Iwaizumi by the door. 

“Senpai! What’s going on?” he worriedly looks back at the smiling Oikawa who is gently pulling the first-year from his seat to properly introduce himself with a polite handshake.

“You don’t have to hide it anymore, I already know, Kageyama,” Iwaizumi answers. “We’ll handle this so you’re safe, okay?” He puts a warm hand onto Kageyama’s thin shoulder and tries not to frown at the clear scratch across Kageyama’s cheek that he didn’t recall seeing there at morning practice. He attempts to control his strength so that he isn’t painfully clenching his kouhai’s shoulder in anger over the asshole who did this to Kageyama. 

Kageyama utters, “B-but, I don’t”-

“You don’t have to burden everything on your own Kageyama, rely on your Senpai once in awhile, alright?” Iwaizumi holds both of the boy’s shoulders and faces him away from the bully as Oikawa ushers the other boy outside to chat in the hallway.

“O-okay,” Kageyama breathes out slowly.

Iwaizumi hums in approval and pats his shoulder as he retreats to the hallway behind Oikawa and the bully. “You stay in here, while we handle it.”

Kageyama nods and stands stiffly at the front of the class, unwilling to return to his solitary seat in favour of hovering near the door’s entrance in case they came back inside.

Once in the hallway, Iwaizumi stands back to not interfere or intimidate the first year who is half-trembling under the smiling Oikawa’s gaze as he explains how Kageyama is a member of the volleyball club, and most importantly is his most promising kouhai who will be a great help for future iterations of Kitagawa Daiichi’s team. 

“Therefore, you should stop hurting Tobio-kun, who has done nothing at all to bother you and doesn’t deserve this unfair treatment.”

The kid, Ito-kun, nods his head vigorously and answers, “I didn’t mean it! I had no idea he was on a team!”

Oikawa held back the urge to glare at this kid’s remark. The implication that being a part of a club or a team somehow meant they were of upward social standing and thus should only bully people who weren't in any clubs seriously irked Oikawa’s nerves. But he holds back this urge and smiles sweetly down at him, “All will be well once you apologize, okay? Tell Tobio-kun you are sorry for your actions and promise him you won’t _ever_ put a hand on him again, you understand, yes?”

Before the kid can heartily agree to Oikawa’s request and Iwaizumi can later reluctantly agree Oikawa’s plan to be better than his initial plan to intimidate the kid with a push or two in retribution for Kageyama’s terrible treatment, another taller student approaches from behind Ito-kun. The newcomers’ shadow casts a long dark presence over the previously civil scene. Oikawa gazes up at the other boy, who is ridiculously taller than him by a couple of inches. A quick once-over the taller student's face reminds Oikawa of who the guy is, a fellow third year, who Oikawa already knows is also named Ito. 

_So little Ito-kun has an older brother then_ , Oikawa deduces.

Oikawa briefly remembers seeing the fellow third-year on the basketball team. He feels thin and tiny in comparison and suddenly remembers boys giggling at his hair back in his second year of elementary school, saying he looked like a girl. Back then his hair was longer, he tried not to give in but by third year he begged his mom to chop it all off. She compromised somewhere in the middle, so he didn't suffer through a buzz cut. The change didn't make a difference. His classmates still distanced themselves from him. The damage had already been permanently done, he was simply known as the strange kid from then on throughout all six years at that terrible school. To everyone except Iwaizumi, of course who he met in his fourth year.

Third-year Ito pushes his little brother to the side and asks, “Why are you picking on my younger brother?”

Oikawa eases his face into a reassuring smile to hide the sweat building at the nape of his neck and the way his heart hammers against his ribcage like a red boxing glove. He replies calmly, “I’m Oikawa Tooru, the Captain of the Volleyball Team and I’m defending my teammate.”

The guy laughs at the volleyball-centric answer and says, "He isn't your younger brother? How's this any of your business?"

"He's my kouhai and a member of the team, I can't have any teammates injured or not feeling well," Oikawa responds diplomatically in hopes of easing the tense situation. 

Ito takes a step closer. "Cut the bullshit. If I hear you talking to my brother again, I'll beat the hell out of you," he sneers down at Oikawa with a curl of his lip.

Oikawa seethes, a fume sparking behind his eyelids. "Your brother is _a bully_ and _a piece of shit_." 

Ito punches Oikawa straight in the face. The right hook shoots out of nowhere so Oikawa has no time to block and Iwaizumi is too late in his run in defense of the motion. The spiker can only stumble behind Oikawa as his friend’s body careens to the ground in shock. Oikawa feels like his entire left side of his face is on fire, and his first worried thought is not the fact his face is painfully throbbing but that his left eye might be swollen closed as he struggles to blink it open. 

Iwaizumi grips Oikawa’s arms thanks to his fast reflexes, half-catching him before he fully crashes to the ground in a painful heap of limbs. Other students gasp and whisper around them, but thankfully no one is running for a teacher since the students are mainly half-scared first years unwilling to get in the older students' business and the other third years hovering nearby are the older Ito's supposed friends.

Iwaizumi steadies Oikawa, as he shouts over his shoulder, “You _bastard _, I’m gonna”–__

__Iwaizumi only succeeds in pushing Ito back a few steps, since Oikawa roughly pulls Iwaizumi to his side before the spiker can get a punch into Ito's face._ _

__Iwaizumi continues to glare at Ito and Oikawa grabs at Iwaizumi’s button-up shirt, nearly loosening his tie in the process. "Don't bother Iwaizumi, it's not worth it," he says with a hiss, as his jaw aches with every spoken word._ _

__"So neither of you have the balls to fight back?" Ito asks with a dramatic arm sweep over the two volleyball players._ _

__Iwaizumi clenches his fists, and half-steps forward once again. Oikawa can feel his best friend’s back muscles tense through the fabric he holds between his fingers to pull Iwaizumi back._ _

__Oikawa pleads, "Think of _the team_."_ _

__Iwaizumi seethes but steps back to stand beside Oikawa, breathing heavily through his flared nostrils. Another third year beside the brother of the bully mentions, "Don't provoke him, that guy is strong. Did you not know? No one in the school has beat him at arm wrestling. Ever."_ _

__Third-year Ito rolls his eyes, and says to Oikawa, completely ignoring Iwaizumi’s outburst, "Stay away from my brother and tell that loser on your team to stop looking so creepy all the time and maybe he wouldn't be made fun of."_ _

__Oikawa glares daggers at the younger brother with a fake manic looking smile as he states, "Sure, we have already come to an agreement, Ito-kun, correct?" He narrows his eyes onto the young first year in expectation._ _

__The first year viciously nods and Oikawa's back eases at the thought the twerp wouldn't bother Kageyama anymore. If he heard of any other incidents in the future he would be sure to let Kageyama's teacher know. He has always been friendly with that teacher since his own first year. It is especially great to be friendly with teachers at times like these when first years can easily be targeted since other children form cliques that exclude others. And he knows the bully will not want his parents knowing about any of this so the plan is flawless, even if he has ended up with a black eye and split lip._ _

__"Come on." The older brother nudges the first year away and the action should be brotherly, but Oikawa can't help but wonder if the first year learned these terrible tactics from the reckless older brother. There's no point to dwell on half baked possibilities though._ _

__Turning around, he sees Kageyama standing at the threshold of the classroom with his mouth wide open and likely catching dust in complete horror at the sight of his dishevelled senpais. Oikawa hopes his nose isn’t bleeding cause surely that would be embarrassing in front of his kouhai he had attempted to defend, but instead Kageyama hovers around Oikawa flailing his arms up and down uselessly as he says, “Oikawa-san?! W-what did you do? Are you alright?”_ _

__Oikawa chuckles tilting his head up to the half-blurry ceiling. Did one of his eye contacts fall out? He snorts to himself in a loud garble while Iwaizumi sighs in annoyance behind him. Shaking his head, Oikawa pulls the fretting Tobio into his arms for a brief hug to stop his flailing for a moment. “I’m _peachy_ , Tobio-kun. How ‘bout you?”_ _

__“Um, I don’t know how I feel,” Kageyama says. Oikawa thinks the kid probably hasn’t felt this relieved in awhile, the feeling must be a new one._ _

__Iwaizumi says, “You should be happy.” He ruffles Kageyama’s hair roughly from where his head peeks between Oikawa’s arms._ _

__“You’re safe now, Tobio-kun,” Oikawa says to the ceiling with a wide tooth-baring smile. Iwaizumi’s eyes soften at Oikawa's genuine action. Kageyama mumbles his thanks while Iwaizumi joins in for a team group-hug at Oikawa’s persistent whining request that he’s getting cold._ _

**Author's Note:**

> is oikawa a tsundere about caring for Kageyama? probably. is this before shit hits the fan when the coach begins focusing on kageyama's setting? yes. if i have the time to write some more for this it'll have a second chapter, but this could also be read as a standalone


End file.
